Rock Creek Far West Livability Study Tonight

DDOT is hosting a public meeting on the Rock Creek Far West Livability Study. Livability studies are used to define improvements in public space that increase safety and access for all users of the transportation system.

Each livability study concludes with a list of recommendations, which can include safer pedestrian crossings, more accessible bus stops, geometric adjustments that support intersection safety, enhanced green spaces, signage for better driver information, and speed controls in sensitive areas.

Crosstown. Nothing permanent has been built, but they had a public meeting on the project on June 12, and another in November. They did the September 21 demonstration of 2-way protected bike lane on Irving St between Park Pl and Warder St. And then this is one of the crosstown study items that's been implemented. Also the Monroe/Michigan intersection improvement.

But the cycletracks were "recommended" for start last year, and are still in design.

I'm fairly certain that the Sherman Circle bike lanes/lane reduction happened last spring. And DDOT did a test of Grant Circle that led them to decide not to reduce lanes, but did add a buffered bike lane.

That study was completed in 2016 so that's a pretty short timescale really. Studies make recommendations, and recommendations are either followed or they aren't. These aren't contracts. But they are the way that change filters its way to the street. Not participating is like not voting. Voting's not guaranteed to get you the outcome you want, but it makes it more likely.

Sherman Circle got bike lanes, but DDOT went against both public comment + the results of its study to maintain two lanes. I was at the meeting, it was very clear the DDOT planner was presenting a decision he disagreed with.

I stand by my main point. These studies are the foundation on which the changes get built. They don't all happen, and they don't all match the recommendations. But they rarely happen without some study to start them.

Looking at that map, it's kind of hard to ignore the fact that MacArthur really is the best candidate for useful bike infra in Rock Creek Far Faraway. It's flat, wide and moderate speed. Most of the other major roads have significant issues, though something could be done on Nebraska (which serves the scattered AU facilities).

Just about anywhere the best real estate for roads has already been claimed by roads, if you're looking for bike-only infrastructure you're kind of hobbled by the fact that you get the leftovers.

The problem with MacArthur Boulevard is the Army Corps of Engineers, which owns the median and a lot of the land alongside. They are opposed to any widening. There are long stretches of MacArthur that don't even have sidewalks.

On the flip side, it was probably the Corps that kept MacArthur from turning into a high-speed arterial.

Dalecarlia, western Nebraska, and Loughboro have pretty forbidding terrain. Central and eastern Nebraska are obvious candidates, especially since Nebraska connects to routes to the North and East better than others. New Mexico is promising. Mass Ave. east of Wisconsin has little used sidewalks on the hill part that work well.

I hear the part about how devoted the Army Corps is to that median on MacArthur. I just find it a little difficult to believe that they actually care about a tiny strip of land that has no connection to any mission of the Corps.

@tony ward 3
Unlike yourself, I don't just post on blogs.
I actually talk to people who can get these bike paths done in DC. I talk to people from DDOT.
And living in the Palisades, I know what it would take to put a bike path on Macarthur Blvd.
So far, neither myself nor DDOT nor members of the BAC that I bike with in the area (Not David) all concluded that we don't think a bike path on Macarthur Blvd is feasible.

1) Removing the parkedCars.
Where do you put them? There are lots of parked car on the BLVD.

2) The Median is owned by Army Corp. A DC official told me that Army Corp would want an obsene amount of land in a land swap for the property.

3) Once you got the property, hypothetically, you reduce the width. But then the trees having over the street. Do you cut them back? Can you cut them back? At this point, I think they are too big to cut back without hurting the tree.

Finally, Tony, it is for this reason that I've been pushing for the Trolley path.

My understanding is that the reason MacArthur has a median in the first place is that it was originally built for the main pipe that brings water into the city (It was called "Conduit Road" until WWII when it was named for General MacArthur). The pipe itself goes under the median because it's 150 years old and can't take the weight of modern vehicles. So even if the Army Corps were to cede control it still would be a major undertaking to use that land.

Crickey, the Army corp of engineers doesn't give away land. And they aren't giving away the median.
If you can figure out how to remove parked cars on Macarthur and put them somewhere else reasonably close by, let me know. I don't see it and I've lived in the neighborhood for 8 years

I bike on MacArthur Boulevard a lot. It's a crappy but usable route. With bike lanes, I'm afraid it would still be a crappy but usable route so I'm not too hot on the issue. Other than heavy traffic, the reason it's a crappy road is that the width keeps fluctuating. There are a lot of roads in the city where they have bike lanes where there's room, but they end abruptly when the space runs out. I think that's worse than no bike lane at all. Long stretches of MacArthur don't have sidewalks or have substandard sidewalks because that's all there is space for.

Getting off topic a bit here, but what I'd love to see on Mac is prioritized bus lanes. The area is poorly served by public transportation. The D6 bus traverses MacArthur and it's famously slow, it averages about 5mph and is only slightly faster than walking.

I think this would be a great place to do a pilot on prioritized intersection signals for buses. Imagine a bus line that could go from Sibley to downtown without ever stopping for lights or traffic.

The city has lost control of a few critical pieces of the trolley ROW. Where it crosses Battery Kemble Park the NPS controls the land, as they do around Foundry Branch. Georgetown University shrewdly bought up one piece of the trackway so that any use going through their campus is going to require their approval. And at Norton Street the Dalecarlia water treatment plant now lies where the trolley used to run.